Carl hahlweg



(No Model.)

0. HAI-ILWEG. REPEATING TIMBPIEGB.

No. 525,321. Patented Aug. 28, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL HAHLl/VEG, OF STETTIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO MARC BLOCH,

OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

REPEATlNG-TIMEPIECE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,321, dated August28, 1894.

Application filed April 24, 1894. Serial No. 508,857- (No model.)Patented in Germany June 1, 1893, No. 73,270, and in Switzerland June 6,1893,1V0. 7,064.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CARL HAHLWEG, watchmaker, a subject of the King ofPrussia, residing at Stettin, Germany, have invented Improvements inRepeating-Movements for Timepieces, (for which I have obtained LettersPatent in Germany, No. 73,270, dated June 1, 1893, and in Switzerland,No. 7,064, dated June 6, 1893;) and I do hereby declare the following tobe a clear and exact description of the invention.

My invention relates to a repeating movement for time-pieces. Suchmovements as at present in use, especially those used in watches, areopen to objection on the ground of the complication of theirconstruction, in consequence of which they are extremely costly andeasily get out of order.

My improved movement is characterized by great simplicity and absolutecertainty 1n its action.

The main feature of my invention, whereby such simplicity of themovement, compared with those previously in use, is attained consists inthe employment of a single hammer and a single gong for fulfilling thefunction of repeating the full hours and the quarters, and in dispensingwith a considerable number of parts such as the return lever and liftingpiece with their delicate springs.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 isv a view showing the strikingmechanism in the position of rest, that is to say, unwound. Fig. 2 is aview showing the same wound up, that is to say, in the position which itassumes when the winding lever is released to allow of the striking.Fig. .5" is a section, and Fig. 3 aplan of the hammer mechanism. Fig. 4:is a plan of the rack for striking the quarters, and Fig. 5 is a similarview of the rack for striking the full hours. Fig. 6 is a plan of thelever which serves as the striking lever for the hour rack and at thesame time as a releasing lever for the quarter rack and of the strikingmechanism.

The going train which is only indicated in dotted outline in Fig.2 atas, w',0c 00 with the anchor for regulating the speed of striking isconnected to the piniont which engages with the teeth of the hour-racks. In the form of construction shown, the hour-rack is provided withnineteen teeth as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 and the rack 3 turns on apin 0 by means of its pivot hole 8 Opposite the part of the rack justreferred to is attached to it an arm 8 which projects through a slot inthe case of the movement and is intended to wind up the strikingmechanism. A fixed springp attached at 10 has its free end p'locatedbeneath a shoulder s on the hour-rack and this spring serves to drivethe striking mechanism.

The spring has at its lower end 19 a slot or recess 19 19 through whichthe arm 3 of the rack passes. The rack .9, however, actuates by means ofits teeth on the one hand, the

hammer a and on the other hand the going train, which latter limits thetravel of the rack in the usual way as it returns and pin 0, while thescrew 0' passes through the hole 6 and is securely screwed into the rack3, while its head prevents the lever b from leaving the rack. The screw0 has, as shown in Fig. 6, a certain amount of play so that the lever(owing to the size of the hole 12 is able to execute a slight movementof rotation upon the screw 0, with reference to the rack s. The extentof this movement is indicated by the dotted lines it n in Fig. 6. Ascrew d is firmly screwed into the screw hole b of the lever 19 andserves as a pivot for the check lever 01 which is provided with a hook din front and a spring or part 01 acting as such behind. This check leverpartakes of the slight motion of the lever 19 by means of its pivot ofrotation 01' and its spring end abuts against the pin it fixed in therack 8 while the middle portion abuts on the screw 0' which is likewisefixed in the rack s. The spring 01 therefore acts, not upon the checklever only, but also simultaneously upon the lever b, and this too insuch a way as to cause the hook d of the check lever to be pressed inthe direction of the quarter rack and the arm Z) of the lever Z) in thesame direction toward the step-wheel or jumping cam 7b. In this positionthe check lever holds the quarter rack in check as shown in Fig. 1. Themovement of the hook d and arm Z) occurs when as the striking train iswound up, these two parts together with the rack s are turned onthepivot 0 so far that the arm I) of the lever strikes upon thestep-wheel 7L, and is arrested, while the rack continues to rotate to ashort distance. The screw 0, which is firmly screwed into the rack s,then presses the check hook 61 back. In Fig. 2 these mechanisms areshown in the position which they take up at the end of this movement, inwhich the point of the check hook (Z is pushed back to the mid point ofthe screw 0 and has released the quarter rack o, while the spring (1 isplaced in a state of tension. hen the rack s is released, the spring (Zdrives the check hook d' and the lever 11 into their previous positionof rest with reference to the rack s.

The quarter rack v turns on a pin o and lies free upon the rack s at thesame height as the check lever (Z. It is shown separately at Fig. 4.This rack possesses three pairs of teeth which like the teeth of therack s, can lift the hammer a and thus give rise to two strokes in rapidsuccession, these double strokes announcing the quarters. \Vhen thestroke of the quarter is completed, the nose o of the rack '12 whichascends gently and commences immediately after the teeth, lifts thehammer tooth a out of the reach of the teeth of the rack, as shown inFig. 1 and as I now will describe. In this latter movement of the rack12 its arm o strikes upon the check hook d presses the latter back andis engaged by the book so as to retain the quarter rack as shown inFig. 1. The rack o is acted upon during the winding up by the springf,which presses upon a lug or pin 12 on the rack o, and causes the rack,as soon as the latter is released to turn in such away that its arm *0strikes upon the step -wheel or jumping cam m, which causes the propernumber of strokes to be given, as by known methods. The rack 11 receivesits striking impulse from the hour rack 8 since it is caused to partakein the motion of the latter through the pin a. The hammer a is capableof rotation upon the pin a and is of such a thickness that its tooth acan engage in both of the racks s and o. The arm ct, which is fixed tothe hammer a, is, however, thinner than the hammer it self, so that thespring 0', which drives the hammer against the gong Z, may have itssmall nose extend over the arm ct of the harm mer to prevent the latterfrom being lifted off from the pin C0 The pin a is not fixed in theplate (1 but upon a lever a (Figs. 1, 3 and 3 capable of rotation upon apivot a. The pivot a with its lever a is placed between the lowersurface of the plate 1 and the plate or block q (Figs. 3 and 8 The pin apasses through the longitudinal hole to in the plate g, and allows thehammer to enter into and pass out of engagement with the rack. In theposition shown in Fig. l the hammer is out of engagement with the rackand in Fig. 2 it is in engagement with the same. The movement fromformer into the latter position is effected by the spring 1'. The springIt serves as a counteracting spring for forcing back the hammer out ofcontact with the gong after each stroke to in sure the production of apure clear tone. The step wheels for the hours and quarters are arrangedin the usual way except that in the present arrangement the former isplaced upon a fixed pin 7t. The pinion 25 in the teeth of which the racks engages, is not permanently connected to the wheel 51:05 the goingtrain, but is connected to it by means of a small ratchet mechanismmovable in one direction.

The striking mechanism is wound up by pressing the arm 3 of the rack inthe direc tion indicated by the arrow 1 (Fig. 2) the pinion then turningloosely on the wheel at and the spring 1) being placed in tension. If itis desired that the striking should be effected, the winding up must becontinued until the lever arm I)" abuts against the step-wheel hand thecheck hook (Z is pushed back as far as itis allowed by the amount ofplay of the screw 0' in the hole The rack can then not be turned anyfarther, while the check hook d releases the quarter rack 12. This checkhook under the action of the spring f'springs back until its arm nstrikes upon the step-wheel m. In executing this movement the tcethofthe quarter rack pass under the tooth a of the hammer whereby the latteris raised after the manner of the pawl and ratchet mechanism by theteeth of the rack. Since the tooth a is somewhat strongly pressedagainst the teeth of the rack by the spring 1', the spring 7* must actproportionately strongly and requires to be specially adapted to itspurpose in order that it may not unduly oppose the mechanism in theprocess of striking. The spring ff is therefore as shown in Figs. 1 and2 made with two arms like afork and rotates at its foot on the screwfiwhile its arm f acts on the quarter rack o and its arm f on the pin 20which is fastened to thehour rack s. The two spring arms fif have theirdistance from each other so regulated that in the resting position shownin Fig. 1, they are not in tension, so that the springarm f exerts nopressure upon the quarter rack r. The spring is not thrown into tensionuntil the striking mechanism is wound up when the pin a which is movedin a circular path by the rack s, presses upon the spring armfaud causesthe latter to recede from the spring arm f, the effect of this being toput the spring arm f in tension. Since, however, both spring armsinteract in consequence of their common foot turning on the screw thespring arm f is also placed in tension and In the presses against thequarter rack 12.

first third-part of'the action of winding up, the spring ff issufficiently placed in tension to bring itinto action and from thispoint to the end of the process of winding up, the spring is only placedmore in tension to a very small degree, because the end f is so bentdown that it almost coincides with the circular path which the pin 71/has still to describe, as may be at once seen on reference to Fig. 2.The result of thus constructing the spring ff is, that it is capable ofbeing placed in such a state of tension as to insure its driving backthe quarter rack without offering any impediment to the mechanism instriking, since the tension of the spring f increases as the winding upis continued and diminishes as the mechanism runs down ceasing to existaltogether when the position of rest (Fig. 1) is reached. Thus thisspring in contrast to the springs at present used for the same purpose,is not wound up by the power exerted by the going train when strikingbut is placed in tension by the act of winding up and involves noexpenditure of energy on the part of the going train. As has beenmentioned, the return of the rack 'U is effected when the mechanism isfully wound up the release of the going train mechanism to perform theact of striking being accomplished at the same time. For, so long as thequarter rack retains the position of rest shown in Fig. 1, its nose 2)keeps the hammer tooth a out of contact with the teeth of the rack, andthe striking mechanism cannot act, even if it be partly wound up so thatfalse striking is prevented and rendered impossible. Thus in order thatstriking may take place the mechanism must be fully wound up, the resultbeing, as above described, that the hook of the check lever 01 beingpressed back, the quarter rack 'u is released and springing back allowsthe hammer tooth a to engage with the teeth of the rack. This positionis shown in Fig. 2. The mechansim is thus released and when the arm 5 isset free strikes the hours in single strokes; and the quarter rack beingmade to partake of the motion of the hour rack by means of the pin to,the quarters are struck in double strokes. The quarter rack then liftsthe hammer tooth of out of engagement with the teeth of the rack bymeans of its nose 1J while at the same time the rack arm n presses backthe check hook 01 which latter engages the arm o and holds the quarterrack firmly in this position. The action of the mechanism is therewithended and the whole of its parts are in the position of rest as shown inFig. 1. It has yet to be noted that while the hour rack is operating thehammer, the quarter rack, as regards its sector of teeth, is withinreach of the hammer tooth 0, but the latter always entering one of thelarger intervals between the pairs of teeth is able to withdraw withouthinderance.

With respect to the double stroke which Serves to distinguish thequarters, it may be remarked that these latter are very clearlycontrasted with the strokes which singly give the hours since the doublestrokes are given by single ones following so speedily one upon theother that they give the impression of being executed by two hammers, inaddition to which, the single points of the double teeth are nearertogether than the teeth of the hour rack, and the quarter rack beingdriven by a shorter lever from the pin u, its teeth have an acceleratedmotion, so that the single strokes which form the double one follow morethan twice as quickly, one upon the other, as the hour strokes. Singlestrokes can, however, be used for the quarter strokes,

since the pause which occurs between the hour strokes and those whichmark the quarters is in itself sufficient to indicate the latter assuch.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, asingle hammer, means for operating the hammer to strike both the fullhours and the quarter hours, and a movable axis of rotation for the saidhammer, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of anhour-rack, a quarter hour rack and a hammer arranged to be acted upon byboth racks, with means for raising the hammer out of the way of one ofthe racks, substantially as set forth.

3. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of an hourrack and a quarter-hour rack with a hammer mounted upon a movable axisand adapted to be acted upon by both racks, the said quarter-hour rackbeing adapted to raise the hammer out of the path of the hour-rack,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of a movablehammer, and an hour rack, with a quarter-hour rack provided with a noseimmediately in the rear of its teeth, the said nose adapted to lift thehammer out of the reach of the teeth of the hour rack as soon as thestriking of the quarters is completed, thus allowing a free passage ofthe teeth of the hour rack in winding up, substantially as set forth.

5. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of an hourrack, and a quarter-hour rack with a spring to act upon the quarter-hourrack and adapted to be tensioned by the hour-rack when the latter iswound up, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. In a repeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of an hourrack and a quarter-hour rack, with a forked spring, the foot of which ispivoted, one arm of the said fork engaging with the hour rack, andadapted to be tensioned by the winding up of the hour rack, the otherarm of the fork engaging with the quarter-hour-rack and adapted to betensioned by the tensionin g of the other arm and the turning of thefoot of the spring, whereby when the works are wound up the spring actsforcibly upon the quarter-hour rack, Without offering any resistance tothe Works during striking, its force diminishing as that actionproceeds.

7. Inarepeating movement for time-pieces, the combination of step Wheelsfor the hours and the quarter hours with an hour rack and a quarter-hourrack, in combination with a releasing mechanism for the quarter-hourrack comprising a lever so connected to the hourrack as to have acertain amount of play, the said lever adapted to engage with the stepWheel for the hours, and a check lever pivoted to the first lever andprovided with a hook to engage the quarter-hour rack when the strikingis completed, the said check lever adapted to be acted upon by thehourrack, when the latter is wound up and makes the slight furthermovement after the first lever has been stopped by the hour step wheel,to release the quarter-hour rack, all substantially as set forth.

CARL HAIIIAVEG.

In presence off- F. W. KIOKBUSCI-I, J r., F. W. KICKBUSOH.

